Grand, Better Things and Carraway at The Monkey House November 26, 2016Leave a comment

Grand at The Monkey House November 26 2016 pic by Tim Lewis

I had a great time seeing music last night at The Monkey House. It’s the busy time at work, so getting out to see music will be a challenge for the next few weeks. I missed a show I really wanted to see last week due to a very early start time on Saturday morning. Yesterday I worked 7:30am to 4pm then went home and napped for a bit. I missed dinner with my cousins and friends and got myself up and running and was out the door by 8:30. I took the lovely walk to Winooski and arrived right at the 9pm start time. I got in and settled and soon enough, it was time for the show.

I’m usually really good about writing about the shows I see, but I do miss a few. Earlier this year Villanelles played four nights at Nectar’s one month and I wrote up three of them, but newer wrote about the last one. The band that opened last night was called Grand and they blew me away. Last night they opened the show and I had super high expectations and they totally blew me away again. They have a fast indie rock sound with great melodies and changes and the songs are fun to ride along with. They take all the songs in increasingly fun places and feature furious guitar work, sweet vocal harmonies and are really good about engaging the audience. They opened with I Can’t Feel A Thing and it rocked hard. Good Times is a fun party song that is perfect for any rocking occasion. The title song to their EP Another Day Closer To Nothing is infectious in a good way. They claimed that in Vermont, Everybody Wants To Get You High and certainly might be right. They slowed things down a little so the singer could sing about his feelings, then they kicked it into a blisteringly fast pace before easing off at the end. It may have been called Just Couldn’t Say and was kind of epic. The song about putting you down and I’m coming around was really good. They had the bass player begin the one about I’m going out and he set a nice, but not too fast, pace and the guitar and drums locked in with a beautiful fury. They wrapped the night with another fun rocker and left the stage by saying “we were Grand. Thank you”. They really were. If you like rock and roll and you ever get a chance to see them, go!

Better Things at The Monkey House November 26 2016 pic by Tim Lewis

Better Things followed with a huge rock sound. All of their songs have a beautiful complexity that are a challenge to follow along with. They never play a lot of songs but each one is a masterpiece of sonic power. Songs ranged from the super-intense Getting Laid In New Hampshire to the slow searing Ex-Files which builds and builds and rocks beautifully. Their set was full of majestic melodic sledgehammer indie rock and I loved every note.

Carraway at The Monkey House November 26 2016 pic by Tim Lewis

I had seen Carraway once a long time ago and really liked them. I’ve recently gotten their new single and played it a couple of times on my radio show. They released the full album on Friday and last night was the release show. They have an indie rock sound with nice melodies and songs that are lovely to listen to. They opened with the a song from their first EP called Time To Save The World and it sounded great. They lit into the new album, The Bad Year, with the first two songs. Anchor and Lion Tamer both rocked hard and sounded great. They played the fun A Company Man and the endearing I’ve Come To Love. They slowed things down with an acoustic guitar and a bluesy sound for the creepy Cereal then kicked back into the full rock sound for a song that did not make the first EP or the new album, and might not make the next one, but was fun live. They played a song that got the audience singing along then played the super-catchy Last Night. I thought they were going to end the set with the easy to relate to epic The Bad Year but they tossed in a blistering rocker to close the night. Their 14 song set was everything I hoped it would be and I loved every moment.

I headed out pretty soon after the show was done and took the long happy walk home.